NationStates Jolt Archive

This was a situation I was in today, so I'm just wondering what everyone else would do.. especially as I now think I made the wrong choice.

I was in a shop trying to get a refund on a fairly expensive piece of computer hardware (£80 motherboard, ~$160 for all you US-type people out there), and the problem I had with it was quite clearly the fault of the company, as one of their techs broke it. I've been jerked around by them before, and have lost money due to faulty hardware from them.

However, the tech on duty immediately realises what's happened -- the technician who broke the motherboard was apparently infamous for doing stupid things -- and authorises a refund immediately... and here I come to my question. Cause he was busy, he put through a refund for a far more expensive part by mistake: a £200 ($400) CPU. The cash transfer had been authorised, and I could've quite easily just taken the money and walked out, £120 richer than before.

Unfortunately, a certain basic honesty -- or stupidity ;) -- made me speak up and explain the mistake... I'm honestly not sure if I did the 'right' thing. I was definately due compensation from the company, and my chances of getting it were slim. Should I have taken the money and ran, or was I right to point out the mistake? Thoughts/flames welcome.

you never regret doing the right thing.

If you had indeed unfairly lost money from the same company before, I would have taken the money, in your shoes.

you never regret doing the right thing.

Hallelujah.

It's a Karmic-balance thang...

This was a situation I was in today, so I'm just wondering what everyone else would do.. especially as I now think I made the wrong choice.

I was in a shop trying to get a refund on a fairly expensive piece of computer hardware (£80 motherboard, ~$160 for all you US-type people out there), and the problem I had with it was quite clearly the fault of the company, as one of their techs broke it. I've been jerked around by them before, and have lost money due to faulty hardware from them.

However, the tech on duty immediately realises what's happened -- the technician who broke the motherboard was apparently infamous for doing stupid things -- and authorises a refund immediately... and here I come to my question. Cause he was busy, he put through a refund for a far more expensive part by mistake: a £200 ($400) CPU. The cash transfer had been authorised, and I could've quite easily just taken the money and walked out, £120 richer than before.

Unfortunately, a certain basic honesty -- or stupidity ;) -- made me speak up and explain the mistake... I'm honestly not sure if I did the 'right' thing. I was definately due compensation from the company, and my chances of getting it were slim. Should I have taken the money and ran, or was I right to point out the mistake? Thoughts/flames welcome.
You definitely did the right thing... especially when you consider that the person who would have paid for that mistake was probably the tech on duty, who doesn't seem to have wronged you in the past (sometimes when companies discover those sorts of errors, they come out of the employee's paycheck).

Would I have done the right thing, in your shoes? Hmm... not sure... ;)

you did the right thing...having worked with customers face to face, we tend to remember ppl who do that kinda thing....besides...everything comes full circle...you will get something good in return...maybe not anything even closely relating to what happened....but something good will come of it...kudos to you...

I don't have a strong believe in Karma. You did the right thing though, even if you don't get anything in return (and that only makes it better)

You definitely did the right thing... especially when you consider that the person who would have paid for that mistake was probably the tech on duty, who doesn't seem to have wronged you in the past (sometimes when companies discover those sorts of errors, they come out of the employee's paycheck).

Yeah.. I have to admit, that was one of the large factors that made me speak up. If it'd been the guy who'd messed me around and cost me several hours of travelling and prodding of very, very dead parts... well, I dunno, it might have gone differently. ;)

I probly take the money and run{being an emotionless freak}. Of course most people might fell guilty for taking the extra money. so on the emotional level it wouldn't be the best thing to do.

You did the right thing. Not just in an ethical sense, but also in your own self interest sense. (The two nearly always coincide anyway).

It is apparent, from the fact that you were using the same shop that jerked you around before, that you do not have much choice in IT provision outlets that are convenient for you. This being the case, you will have to deal with this clerk, apparently an intelligent member of staff by his treatment of you, in the future.

Now you, are currently some 80 quid down on what you could have, but the shop clerk will remember you as being honest. Next time you have a problem, or need some particularly tricky gizmo or something. This clerk will be disposed to help you. But not just the clerk, the store manager/owner (you did not specify the store) will also be favourably disposed. He or she will see the transaction history and realise what happened, even if the clerk does not tell him.

Goodwill, from your local IT store is worth a damn sight more than 80 quid.

I probably would have pointed it out just based on how surprise I would be...that is, if I noticed, which I assume I would. If I didn't notice at the time, then I certainly would not go back and correct the error out of laziness.

I agree with most of what has been said. If you would have taken the money the tech on duty would have paid at a later date and he {she?} isn't the one who tried slighting you in the first place and was in fact only trying to help you once they knew what had happened. Although you've been jipped by the same company before you, by your own choice, keep going back. If it was that big of a deal you could just leave instead of trying to get back at them.

you never regret doing the right thing.

Bullshit, everytime he sees something that he really wants that costs 100 pounds, he is going to be kicking himself.

I think you should have taken it. Almost everyone involved in the making of that piece was taking advantage of someone, you missed your chance to join in.

You did the right thing in not taking the money. However you could also have taken the money and then given it to a good cause or somebody who needs the money - eg homeless person, single parent on low income....come to think of it you should have taken the money and given it to a single mother stripper, that way everybody's happy - you, me, the stripper, god etc.. all happy.

was it pc world, if so you should have felt bad for not taking the money, thouse assholes violate consumer rights on a daily basis and have a markup price of about 280%, but if its a small scale company then yes you where right.

you did the right thing...having worked with customers face to face, we tend to remember ppl who do that kinda thing....besides...everything comes full circle...you will get something good in return...maybe not anything even closely relating to what happened....but something good will come of it...kudos to you...


Would that the cosmos actually worked that way. Care to explain to me what horible ethical practices the Jews in the death camps/the people in the WTC/etc. did that lead to their untimely deaths?


was it pc world, if so you should have felt bad for not taking the money, thouse assholes violate consumer rights on a daily basis and have a markup price of about 280%, but if its a small scale company then yes you where right.

Ditto.

usually i would point out the error. however, it would depend on the place. there are two stores that have probably ripped me off for around $300 total by now, and if it were either of those i would take the money.

This was a situation I was in today, so I'm just wondering what everyone else would do.. especially as I now think I made the wrong choice.

I was in a shop trying to get a refund on a fairly expensive piece of computer hardware (£80 motherboard, ~$160 for all you US-type people out there), and the problem I had with it was quite clearly the fault of the company, as one of their techs broke it. I've been jerked around by them before, and have lost money due to faulty hardware from them.

However, the tech on duty immediately realises what's happened -- the technician who broke the motherboard was apparently infamous for doing stupid things -- and authorises a refund immediately... and here I come to my question. Cause he was busy, he put through a refund for a far more expensive part by mistake: a £200 ($400) CPU. The cash transfer had been authorised, and I could've quite easily just taken the money and walked out, £120 richer than before.

Unfortunately, a certain basic honesty -- or stupidity ;) -- made me speak up and explain the mistake... I'm honestly not sure if I did the 'right' thing. I was definately due compensation from the company, and my chances of getting it were slim. Should I have taken the money and ran, or was I right to point out the mistake? Thoughts/flames welcome.

I think it could go either way, but it's already been done. Time to move on. :)

Keep the money!". If hes to stupid to give the rigth amount then more fool him

was it pc world, if so you should have felt bad for not taking the money, thouse assholes violate consumer rights on a daily basis and have a markup price of about 280%, but if its a small scale company then yes you where right.

Naw, it wasn't PC World. Ever since I was taking a hard disk drive back and the first thing the tech testing it did was to shake it very hard 'to see if it had a head crash', I've been VERY wary about their returns policy. ;)

I agree with Scouserland, but my first reaction was to go "take the money and run" BUT then donate 50% of the extra money to charity - then you benefit, as does the charity, and you still get to feel morally in the clear.
But then again, maybe this is just my way of persuading myself that my evilness is morally justified :D :rolleyes:

Would that the cosmos actually worked that way. Care to explain to me what horible ethical practices the Jews in the death camps/the people in the WTC/etc. did that lead to their untimely deaths?


He was not saying that bad acts cause ytou to suffer bad acts, just that in general, over a large sample space, good acts tend to get repaid. It is not that the cosmos works that way, it is that good acts tend to be intelligent and remembered.

This was a situation I was in today, so I'm just wondering what everyone else would do.. especially as I now think I made the wrong choice.

I was in a shop trying to get a refund on a fairly expensive piece of computer hardware (£80 motherboard, ~$160 for all you US-type people out there), and the problem I had with it was quite clearly the fault of the company, as one of their techs broke it. I've been jerked around by them before, and have lost money due to faulty hardware from them.

However, the tech on duty immediately realises what's happened -- the technician who broke the motherboard was apparently infamous for doing stupid things -- and authorises a refund immediately... and here I come to my question. Cause he was busy, he put through a refund for a far more expensive part by mistake: a £200 ($400) CPU. The cash transfer had been authorised, and I could've quite easily just taken the money and walked out, £120 richer than before.

Unfortunately, a certain basic honesty -- or stupidity ;) -- made me speak up and explain the mistake... I'm honestly not sure if I did the 'right' thing. I was definately due compensation from the company, and my chances of getting it were slim. Should I have taken the money and ran, or was I right to point out the mistake? Thoughts/flames welcome.

I woulda wanted to take the money and run, but I'm a wimp, and I'd probably end up doing the right thing anyway. :(

For the following reason: If the company keeps decent records, chances are they would figure out that the helpful technician ran up the wrong refund. They might even take it out of his pay. And certainly you have no reason to wish to hurt him.

If my silence hurts only the company, and not a specific employee? Walk. Like when the ATM spits out a few extra twenties. I consider that fair game. (In fact, when this happened, I immediately made another withdrawal just in case it would happen again. It didn't.)

:D

This was a situation I was in today, so I'm just wondering what everyone else would do.. especially as I now think I made the wrong choice.

I was in a shop trying to get a refund on a fairly expensive piece of computer hardware (£80 motherboard, ~$160 for all you US-type people out there), and the problem I had with it was quite clearly the fault of the company, as one of their techs broke it. I've been jerked around by them before, and have lost money due to faulty hardware from them.

However, the tech on duty immediately realises what's happened -- the technician who broke the motherboard was apparently infamous for doing stupid things -- and authorises a refund immediately... and here I come to my question. Cause he was busy, he put through a refund for a far more expensive part by mistake: a £200 ($400) CPU. The cash transfer had been authorised, and I could've quite easily just taken the money and walked out, £120 richer than before.

Unfortunately, a certain basic honesty -- or stupidity ;) -- made me speak up and explain the mistake... I'm honestly not sure if I did the 'right' thing. I was definately due compensation from the company, and my chances of getting it were slim. Should I have taken the money and ran, or was I right to point out the mistake? Thoughts/flames welcome.

You have to live with yourself and doing something of questionable morality will make it easier to do ethically questionable things again. In addition to which, the company may have discovered the error later and caused you additional problems.

BTW ... if the company had "jerked you around" previously, perhaps going back to them wasn't the wisest choice.

chances are i wouldn't even notice if i underpaid unless it was significant.

but then even if it was significant, i would probably assume that a sale sticker fell off.

oh, but getting a refund, i would point that out.